Please: don't bother writing a book review if you haven't actually read the book.

Basing your conclusion on "just the small parts that I have read" says quite a bit about you, too.

Perhaps for the sake of his soul and his sanity he realized that the truth must be told. Then he realized he better get his bucks before the full catastrophe that Bush has caused actually plays out.

My comments were not about writing a book review, they were about loyalty and how that plays out in both our personal and political lives.

Liz does make a point but I think we pretty much already knew the things that Mr. McLellan is saying. It might have been better to have made his comments public when the Scooter Libby / Carl Rove issue was happening.

In any case, I am happy that the blogs are beginning to pick up.

We are looking forward to continued dialogue.

On npr today they said the book is very muted and balanced compared to the press it is getting. I am guessing if we all read the book before discussing it we might find out how much the man struggled to balance his loyalty and his morality.

Response from Michael:
I appreciate your comments and particularly appreciate that you made them politely and professionally. I can see that my perspective has really caused ire for some people. That is understandable but I do ask that we continue to respond and react appropriately, which you have done.
In direct response to your comments, I can only add again, that Mr. McClellan's reaction to all this would have been better had they been immediate and he made his comments for free.

Mr.De Angelis,It warms my heart to know loyalty is more important to you than running a country with integrity and honor.To send the youth of this country off to die for a lie or to return with no legs or arms and for what. Have you ever told your boss he was wrong?Have you ever told your boss he was a liar?If so what happened?

Yes, I have told my boss that. If my boss was the President of the United States, it would be even more important to speak out. Your point is my point. Since Mr. McClellan had the opportunity to speak up and did not many more lives have been destroyed. Integrity, honor and loyalty are all integrated virtues.
Interesting that you would challenge me, but you don't identify yourself.

Loyalty in government is the cornerstone of corruption.

You have made an excellent point. I am referring however, to personal loyalty. But I agree that blind loyalty in the political, legal or corporate world is a big problem.

If Mr. McLellan had personal loyalty he would have told Mr. Bush what he thought at the time. If Mr. Bush did not react appropriately, and if Mr. McLellan had integrity, then he would have left immediately. It seems to me that he continued to benefit from his relationship with the President at the time so he continued on, and then when it no longer worked for him, he left and wrote his book.

I firmly believe that if this had to do with a sense of obligation to the American people, then Mr. McClellan would have just spoken up publicly. Writing the book seems to be exploiting the trust that others extended to him.

Michael, so what I'm hearing you say is that you believe what McLellan has said...you just think he should have said it a long time ago...yet you have no comments about all the other people in this administration that have not spoken up about what many of us have known was going on for a long time...so why not criticize all the other loyalist that think being loyal is more important than being honest. I find it very amusing to hear you speak the exact same talking points that are coming from the White House...nearly word for word...are you one of them? You sure sound like it...
have you ever heard of the organization called "PNAC" ? Are you aware of their stated goals from 1998...?

Michael's Response:

No, no and no. No I am not one of the members of the White House, no I do not know about PNAC and no I do not know what their goals are. In fact, I am a homosexual, I am a democrat and I have never been associated with (for better or worse) any White House administration.

Loyalty does matter to me. Perhaps growing up gay several decades ago enhanced how important I think loyalty is.

I addressed this in a previous response so I can only say again, that speaking up now and getting paid for it, does not strike me as an ethical thing to do. People are having thier lives destroyed over this issue while the McClellan's are making money from it. ...We already knew.!! As you pointed out: "what many of us have known was going on for a long time". This was about making money and ultimately about being disloyal to someone he has been close with for many years. His actions (writing a book and making a profit) will not benefit anyone but himself.

You have stated above: "I find it very amusing to hear you speak". I am happy that I was able to amuse you, (amongst all the other emotion I brought on for you) and hope that you continue to visit.....to be amused or challenge my comments...on my future blogs.

Thank you

Thank you all for your fiery comments. Please continue to visit the "Political Response" blog site and look for the next subject starting this weekend.